You can listen to my full interview with the wonderful Jacquelene Brotherton on Import Export TV here. How many more red flags do we need to get changes recommended by coroners and parliamentary inquiries decades ago? It’s too late for our family members, hopefully it’s not for yours. We need legislation strong enough to ensure we get adequate, permanent safety outcomes. We aren’t going anywhere until we get it either. youtu.be/8s9f-n5QdDM?si=IF_g…

My letter in today's West Australian newspaper, Wednesday 9th September 2026. We don’t need to see any more coroners waving red flags following completely preventable tragedies - our families all around Australia want tightly written legislation that puts public safety fairly and squarely before the commercial interests of the rail industry. It shouldn't be this hard...........

I'm extremely proud of you Merrilea David Broad. I am so lucky to have such an amazing lifelong friend and fearless rail safety co-campaigner by my side. Merrilea's outstanding column is out today in the September edition of the WA Transport Magazine. Please take the time to read it. Thank you Shane Love and Basil Zempilas for your strong alliance position through the Rail Safety Bill on a decades old safety issue that has disproportionately affected rural communities for decades too long. I will continue to negotiate on behalf of our families as long as it takes to get adequate train and rolling stock safety and visibility lighting improvements in place.

Please take the time to read this excellent post by independent transport safety researcher Dr Brett Hughes. See attached video of an Aurizon train if you need a visual example of how ineffective reflective tape on rolling stock can be. Share around. The only way to deal with misinformation is to call it out. 𝐁𝐲 𝐃𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬. Accuracy and honesty are essential for rail and road safety. Some of the misinformation being distributed about the WA Rail Safety Lighting Bill is misleading, accidental or uniformed. Unfortunately some of it is deliberate, manipulative or mischievous. It’s unprofessional, while other professionals sadly aren’t telling the truth. There’s a lot that the rail industry isn’t admitting to or doesn’t know. One example is reflectors on the sides of train wagons. One commentator incorrectly wrote “The reflective strips still work up to 60 degrees angle.” AS7531 (which isn’t mandatory) specifies Class 1100 retroreflective sheeting for wagons, which is the same as Stop and Give Way signs. It works well with a direct vehicle approach but does not work at all angles. According to the Standard, Class 1100 Material (white) is required to have a minimum luminous intensity/ area of - 560 units at 4° of angle of view (i.e. perpendicular view, or direct approach) - 45 units at 30° of angle of view (i.e. angle of 30 ° from perpendicular) At this angle the light reflected is only 8% of the perpendicular view. There are no specifications at angles greater than 30°. In other words, Class 1100 retroreflective sheeting doesn’t work at sharp angles of view, such as angled approaches or curved approaches of roads approaching level crossings, which are very common. Another commentator write about Stop signs, which use the same reflective sheeting: “In a previous life I installed level crossing signage facing the road. The specification said to angle the signs 5° away from the headlights of oncoming cars otherwise the reflection is actually quite blinding. That’s how bright they are.” Of course he’s referring to specular (mirror) reflection caused by the protective sheeting which is quite different to retro reflectivity where 5° makes no difference. Railways will never operate safely “as far as is reasonably practicable” without accurate information, honesty and a commitment to change. Class 1100 reflective tape does not meet the standards for road vehicles. Road vehicles, including trailers and bicycles are required by law to use prismatic, mirrored or corner cube reflectors which operate at all virtually angles. Roadworthy reflectors are available at automotive shops at about 2 for $10. There are several ways to correct this inadequacy. • Sugar cane wagons in Queensland have angled reflectors. • Using reflectors that road vehicles are required to. Road vehicles, including caravans, trailers and bicycles are required to meet much more stringent standards. Lighting wagons to the standard of road vehicles would offer the best visibility in all circumstances and conditions. Rail wagons are often too hard to see. The current specifications for retroreflective sheeting in AS7531 are inadequate. And they need to be properly cleaned, maintained and replaced. By the way, the cross buck sign in the photo in the post was superseded in AS1742.7 ten years ago 😣 To @BasilZempilas and @ShaneLoveMW thank you for fighting for improved safety alongside our families, highly experienced and specialised safety professionals and more than 20 outstanding organisations around Australia.

Tonight's ABC News. (14/7/2026) I would like someone from the RBTU to adequately explain to me why all rail track maintenance machines, personnel vehicles that transport rail employees and Aurizon's trucks are all fitted with flashing safety beacons then? Flashing beacons are widely utilised as a safety feature on them yet strangely the largest, heaviest and most dangerous vehicles in trains and their rolling stock are somehow exempt from having the same. In Queensland train drivers have been operating cane trains without issue for decades. These trains that must be fitted with flashing beacons. Why? The rationale for their use is SAFETY. Cane trains often work in close proximity to other vehicles such as harvesters and haul out tractors. The nature of cane railway locations result in a lot of crossings with farm roads and remote rural roads which are lightly controlled with signage etc no different to vast areas of regional Australia. High visibility is the easiest way to help reduce this risk. Flashing beacons came about because: · Cane railways come under the auspices of Queensland Workplace Health and Safety legislation, not the Rail Regulator ONRSR; · Queensland Workplace Health and Safety legislation stipulates mobile plant machinery have amber flashing beacons; · They provide an added safety layer (visibility) as cane trains traverse throughout the district amongst cane fields, and especially at cane rail sidings. Under the Sugar Industry Code of Practice for the Design, Manufacture and Maintenance of Locomotives and Rolling Stock for Cane Railways, amber flashing beacons must be installed on all locos, brake vans and on-track vehicles. Pretty simple really. Lights save lives. This campaign is for the train drivers too. We're trying to ensure they are not first responders by default at the scene of completely preventable crashes like the one that claimed the life of my youngest brother Christian and his two beautiful friends Hilary and Jess. 😔😔 @hasselljpb @TimMontague77 @Rita_Saffioti @RogerCookMLA

Quote of the century 💙💙💙💙💙

If you have any interest in this campaign for mandatory safety and visibility lighting legislation for trains whatsoever please have a listen. This exhausting campaign has always been for the train drivers and their families too. If I was a train driver I'd be taking it up with the RTBU. We've done our homework-time they did too 🫩🫩🙏🏼 Sincere thanks to the wonderful Andrew Collins from ABC Statewide Drive for giving me the opportunity to speak. You do a brilliant job across so many issues affecting is in the regions. This one is especially close to my heart. ABC Drive Life is precious- hold your loved ones tight. You can listen to my interview by clicking on the link below: it starts at the 1:02:21 mark. abc.net.au/listen/programs/w…

My letter in today's West Australian newspaper Monday June 1st 2026. I'm a bit tired of tagging politicians. The fact is I shouldn't have too. No family should, yet here we all are - still showing up after all these years to make sure it's not someone else's family living with the lifelong pain of a completely preventable tragedy.

WA Transport Magazine June 2026. I'm incredibly proud of young rural woman Sofie Weir. Statistics don't bleed 😔😔 Please read @RogerCookMLA @Rita_Saffioti @PatrickGormanMP

My letter in today's Countryman newspaper 7.5.26. A copy of the letter referenced within it attached. CWA of WA 💙 @Rita_Saffioti @RogerCookMLA @TonyButi_MLA

This is what intestinal fortitude looks like. Thank you @LachlanHunter sincerely for your leadership on this decades old safety issue with The Nationals WA Team. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼Our families and supporting professionals and organisations right around Australia sincerely appreciate the tireless work you've done and continue to do to support us in our push to make train safety and visibility lighting law. @RogerCookMLA @Rita_Saffioti @CatherineKingMP

The next completely preventable rail tragedy is only a matter of time. Mark my words. And when it does happen, no politician can say they haven't been exhaustively warned. @RogerCookMLA @Rita_Saffioti @JStojkovskiMLA @TonyButi_MLA @PatrickGormanMP @BasilZempilas @LachlanHunter @ShaneLoveMW

Why did I slam what WA Transport Minister @Rita_Saffioti MLA said? Let me fill you in. Rita Saffioti’s office made a statement on rail safety on the ABC Country Hour (Wednesday 8th April) following my interview. It read, “The WA Government will continue to work with the federal government to ensure a nationally consistent approach is taken towards rail safety with any requirements imposed on rail operators requiring a nationally legislated standard with all state and territory transport ministers needing to provide unanimous agreement.” Unfortunately for Minister Saffioti, our families of rail crash victims know all too well that working towards a ‘nationally consistent approach on rail safety’ is actually code for brace yourself for years of government inaction ahead. It's akin to just kicking the proverbial can, right on down the road. Same old hollow statement our families have seen churned out by successive governments for decades. Look no further than a statement made in Parliament in 2001 (attached) by then Labor Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan following the untimely deaths of my youngest brother and his two friends who were struck and killed by an inadequately lit grain train on dark at the Yarramony Road level railway crossing near Jennacubbine on July 8, 2000. On 16th October 2001, Ms MacTiernan told State Parliament that the WA Government could no longer wait while lives were put at risk as a result of the delay in arriving at a national approach. She said a coroner's report (Coroner Alastair Hope) on the three tragic deaths at a level crossing emphasised the need for urgent action and I quote. ‘The coroner recommended that immediate action be taken to improve lighting on locomotives, including flashing lights when the train approached level crossings,” Ms Mac Tiernan said. But guess what? No state or federal government then or since has required rail operators to have safety visibility lighting on their trains. You might ask why government action on this issue is so glacially slow. Well, it's quite simple really. Train lighting upgrades don’t come with ribbon cuttings for politicians and multi-million dollar rail companies are far more important to our government than bereaved rural families from vote-scarce regions. Special thanks to the Countryman newspaper and Great Southern Herald for following the response from our families up. We are extremely upset. @RogerCookMLA @JStojkovskiMLA @BasilZempilas @LachlanHunter @ShaneLoveMW @TonyButi_MLA

There's a train in this photo @RogerCookMLA @Rita_Saffioti @JStojkovskiMLA